I don’t know about your house, but for some reason there are always about 2-3 bananas out of the bunch that get too ripe for my family’s taste, and even though bananas aren’t terribly expensive, I hate to throw out food. So either into the freezer, or into this banana bread they go!
This recipe is my go to banana bread. Everyone seems to have one that they like, but this one is always moist and delicious. I have tried bunches (sorry) of recipes for banana bread and this one, which I have been making for over 20 years, always wins. I hate when banana bread is crumbly, the sour cream in this recipe keeps it moist. Also, it is better to let it cool completely before slicing so it retains its moisture.
Plus this Banana Bread is flexible!
A little alteration of your ingredients and you can make up for skimpy bananas. I put 2 bananas in the recipe because who wants to mash and measure bananas by the cup? If your bananas are small, add a few more tablespoons of sour cream. Done.
It is delicious on its own, toasted with butter, or you can slice it and make it into little tea sandwiches by putting flavored cream cheese between two slices. I like pineapple or strawberry cream cheese the best. It also freezes well (unsliced and without a filling of course) so you can go ahead and make it, freeze it, and take it out the night before you are having company over.
There's always money in the banana stand....
Mom tip: forget something for the school bake sale your child tells you about the night before? Pull it out of the freezer, wrap it in a pretty new dish towel (I always have some extras lying around), put a bow on it, and send it in with them in the morning. You’re welcome.
Banana Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Sour Cream
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ c Unsalted Butter room temperature
- 1 c Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Bananas very ripe
- 2 c All-purpose Flour
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- Pinch Salt
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 c Chopped Pecans or Walnuts if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. (Use convection setting if your oven has it.) Spray a 9 X 5 loaf pan with Baking Pam. (This stuff is amazing.)
- Combine sour cream and baking soda in a small bowl or ramekin. This mixture needs to sit for about 5 minutes. It will become spongey in appearance as the two react.
- Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl using a hand mixer. Beat in eggs, banana, and sour cream mixture. Note: the bananas should be ripe enough where you can drop them in whole and mix them up with everything else.
- Sift in flour and ½ tsp baking powder and nuts if desired. If you are feeling lazy or are in a rush just put the flour in there. The bread won’t be quite as light, but it still will taste great and sometimes that’s all that matters. 😉
- Bake for 45 minutes. Remove and cover the top with foil to prevent it from getting too brown. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until an inserted toothpick produces a small crumb.
- Let cool in the pan 5 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool. This step is important or it will continue to cook in the pan and get too dry.
Leave a Reply